seeking brisket recipes

Anybody have good brisket recipes to share? I've decided learning to make brisket well will be my summer project. I had some at a friend's house last summer and it was really excellent, but I tried one shortly thereafter and it wasn't all that special - kind of tough. Are there techniques I should know about?
Craig

Re: seeking brisket recipes

That sounds like a good oven cooked one, but around here briskets are for smokers.

Trim up your brisket well, remove the fat especially on the fatty part, but leave 1/8 - 1/4 inch on the "point." You'll know what I'm talking about after seeing/handling one. The point makes great slices, the fatty part makes great pulled or chopped beef, but I slice it anyway.

About two days before you smoke it, trim it, slather yellow mustard over it nicely, rub it in, then sprinkle with a mixture of coarse salt, pepper, and I use Tony Chachere's creole seasoning for a bit of bite. Put it in a pan and wrap with food wrap.

On smoking day, heat the smoker up and toss it on. Make sure the smoke is rolling when the brisket is cool. I use a simple Brinkman Smoke and Grill smoker, costs about $75. Mix up a small bowl of oil or butter with more Tony's for basting. Leave it alone for 2 hours. Baste, flip, baste. Repeat that every hour, basting less and less as the time goes on and the crust develops.

That's pretty much it, I usually start around midnight for a lunch brisket, it takes about an hour for each pound especially when the smoker is about 200-250 degrees. If you're curious you can use a meat thermometer and watch the temp climb to about 150, then it just sits there for hours while the meat slowly cooks. You can wrap the meat in foil and put it in the oven at 250 degrees after about 4-6 hours, but I find that makes it too moist and fatty. I like to let that fat drain off and finish it in the smoker. I stop adding smoking wood after 6 hours too, as the smoke doesn't get into the cooked outsides much more.

I usually call it done at about 200 degrees. Let it sit for 30 minutes or so under a foil tent and slice it up.

I'm not an expert, and I know there are guys on here who do competitions, so curious to see what they'd say.

"this hobby is supposed to be fun. When it stops being fun, check yourself, because you're doing it wrong." Charles Cowdery

Re: seeking brisket recipes

A recipe from England, made variously with top rump, blade or brisket, involves beer and could easily involve bourbon.

Use the whole brisket or half of it, both sides but it should be fairly flat overall.

Dust with flour and salt and pepper. Slice an onion and lay on top to cover. Place in a roaster. Pour over a mixture of stout (or any darkish beer), port wine (or brandy or bourbon), and vinegar (any kind). Don't use too much, maybe a cup in total but it will vary with the size of the meat. You want a gravy to form but not too much, so it is concentrated and well-flavoured.

Cover and bake. I find either it's better to do it "fast", say an hour and half at 350, or slowly, say 3 hours at 275. It's good to defat the gravy and also it tastes better the next day reheated. One of the English names for it is Sussex Stewed Steak and this version is from Elizabeth David's Spices, Salts and Aromatics in the English Kitchen.

(Resist any intention to add green herbs of any kind. It's an English dish where just a few flavours combine to a rich pure taste. It's what we would call a pot roast. They call it a stew but all recipes I've seen call for one piece of meat, not slices or chunks, so it's not a stew in our sense in other words).

Re: seeking brisket recipes

I highly recommend this recipe/article. I experimented with several recipes, and found this one to be the best. As the article says, you will be rewarded many times over by picking a good quality (choice at least) whole packer trimmed brisket, as opposed to just doing a flat. You should also make the burnt ends with the point/deckle, which are IMO the best part. Also, you can decide whether you prefer to wrap in foil (Texas Crutch) to speed up the process. In my experience, you get a lot better bark without the foil wrap, but the brisket isn't as moist.

I use a large Big Green Egg with plate setter, and a mixture of apple and hickory wood chunks.

Re: seeking brisket recipes

I use a weber smokey Mountain smoker.

There is a wedge of fat in between the flat (lean) and Point Fatty portion. Trim that out in a V it goes about an inch or more deep. You can rub with whatever you want, but I use salt and pepper some paprika and ceyanne, sometimes I thrpow in some powdered mesquite flavor or powdered worschester. be generous with the rub. One of my tricks for a tender briskett is Jaccard, its a nasty medieval torture device for food.

The key to cooking a brisket is temperature, Briskett is a really tough cut of meat, the internal fat holding the muscle fibers together starts to break down at 170 degrees, once the internal temperature is at 170 cook it low for at least 2 more hours to ensure tenderness. I have never gone wrong smoking for 12-14 hours at 200-250 depending on the size of the briskett. Always cook with the fat side down, that insulates your meat from the heat and stops it from drying out.

Re: seeking brisket recipes

Originally Posted by DaveOfAtl

I highly recommend this recipe/article. I experimented with several recipes, and found this one to be the best. As the article says, you will be rewarded many times over by picking a good quality (choice at least) whole packer trimmed brisket, as opposed to just doing a flat. You should also make the burnt ends with the point/deckle, which are IMO the best part. Also, you can decide whether you prefer to wrap in foil (Texas Crutch) to speed up the process. In my experience, you get a lot better bark without the foil wrap, but the brisket isn't as moist.

I use a large Big Green Egg with plate setter, and a mixture of apple and hickory wood chunks.

Re: seeking brisket recipes

I appreciate the useful suggestions - I expect to try several as the summer progresses. My inclination is to use a smoker, I've got a "Cajun Cooker" I bought thousands of years ago, but the Big Green Egg is tempting...

My other summer projects include a new coat of finish on the back deck, and touching up the barn paint. Anybody want to help with those? I can offer good bourbon (and maybe brisket) in return.
Craig